


Jinju

by rebecca_selene



Category: The Haunting (1999), 아가씨 | The Handmaiden (2016)
Genre: Canon Bisexual Character, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 14:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14717438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebecca_selene/pseuds/rebecca_selene
Summary: When art student Theo travels to South Korea for an exhibition, she learns of a place that might have answers to questions she isn’t even sure she has.





	Jinju

**Author's Note:**

> Jinju appears to mean “pearl” in Korean; apologies for any mistakes with that translation. Written for the 2018 [intoabar](https://intoabar.dreamwidth.org/) prompt: Theo (The Haunting) goes into a bar and meets... Lady Hideko (The Handmaiden)!

The first thing Hideko noticed about the approaching figure was the shoes. They stopped at the edge of her and Sook-hee’s private table, one foot immediately beginning to tap in impatience or nervousness, Hideko couldn’t tell. The interrupter wore stylish red boots, slick and shinier than boots had a right to be after experiencing the dusty city streets. Hideko finally looked up, eyebrow raised.

She heard Sook-hee catch her breath, and Hideko knew why. The young woman standing before them was stunningly beautiful and biting her lip in what Hideko assumed was discomfort but came off as irresistibly alluring as the shy virgins from her uncle’s texts. If it hadn’t been for the woman’s impeccable taste in footwear, Hideko would have disliked her immediately. As it was, she put on her best hard stare. “Yes?” she asked coldly in Korean.

The woman glanced around the tea shop furtively, almost guiltily, before seeming to steel herself. “Are you the Lady Hideko?” she asked in halting Korean.

“Yes,” Hideko replied. “Who are you?”

“My name is Theo. Someone told me about your parlor. I have…questions.”

Nothing about the public face for their women-only parlor suggested anything out of the ordinary, but clearly someone had given Theo more information about its true nature. “What are your questions?”

Theo wrung her hands, looking young and lost. “I…I…”

Sook-hee placed a hand over Hideko’s gloved fingers. “Will you not invite her to join us?”

Hideko sighed. It often took Sook-hee to inject the heart back into Hideko’s interactions…but that was true in all aspects of their life together. “Of course. Please, will you sit?”

Theo sank into the bench across from them. “Thank you.” Sook-hee handed her a cup of tea, and Theo unwound her fingers from each other to wrap around the steaming cup. She stared down into the liquid, silent.

Hideko reminded herself to be patient. In the decades since they had opened the parlor, she had learned how difficult it could be for some women to make the same journey of discovery she had after meeting Sook-hee. Age had only mellowed her slightly, however. “What are your questions?”

“I don’t know where to begin.” Theo ran a hand through her dark hair, making it more messy but somehow also furthering her beauty. Hideko wondered if she was a model.

Sook-hee smiled at Theo. “Why did you seek out Lady Hideko? Why not go to Jinju?” At Theo’s confused expression, Sook-hee clarified, “The parlor.”

“Oh.” Theo let out a breath, took a fortifying sip of tea. “I ask myself if I should go, or if I shouldn’t. When I think I won’t, I feel…” She seemed to search for the right word, and Hideko suspected she wasn’t just looking for the Korean translation. “Like a coward. But when I decide I will go, I feel…afraid. I’m not used to being unsure.”

Hideko believed in the purpose of Jinju and was overprotective of it as a result. She hadn’t been sure of Theo’s intentions, but the genuine rawness in her face convinced Hideko that Theo truly did want answers to a personal dilemma, and wasn’t one of the occasional undercover law enforcement agents trying to expose Jinju.

“Afraid of what?” Sook-hee pushed.

Theo’s eyes flicked from Hideko to Sook-hee to their hands and back. Finally, she whispered, “Afraid of being…of liking…other women.” Hideko got the sense that Theo held her gaze with effort, almost defiantly, giving Hideko a glimpse of a normally fiery, confident women. She felt herself warming to Theo.

Smiling, Hideko twisted her wrist to lace her fingers in with Sook-hee’s. “You do not need to be afraid of that here.”

Theo watched the movement closely. Her shoulders relaxed, and she took another sip of tea.

“What are you questions?” Hideko asked a third time.

“How do I know for sure? That I like women…that way?”

Hideko frowned. She wished she had found an easy way to answer that question, but she had never been quite able to put into words the way Sook-hee made her feel. Not that every woman experienced the same feeling, or that she would want to share hers with a stranger anyway.

“Do you like men that way?” Sook-hee asked.

“Yes, but it’s not the same. Not exactly. It’s always been clear how I feel about men, but with a woman, it’s…different. Not the same as with someone I consider a friend, but not the same kind of attraction I feel toward men.” She shook her head. “It’s very confusing.”

“It can take time to fully understand those feelings.” Hideko took a sheet of paper from her purse, wrote an address on it, and handed it to Theo. “You will find your answers here, at Jinju. Go as often as you need.”

Theo looked at the paper, opened her mouth, closed it again. “What will happen there?”

Hideko shrugged. “Talk. Watch. Experiment. Whatever you want, and only what you are comfortable with. You will be safe there, whatever you discover.”

Theo took a deep breath, placed her hands together, and bowed. “Thank you.”

Hideko and Sook-hee watched her leave the tea house. “Do you think she is like us?” Sook-hee asked.

Hideko turned back to her tea. “She will find out.”


End file.
